The holiday is upon us and along with that comes the wrapping of presents, congested traffic, road rage, whiny children screaming of the things they want for Christmas… and of course, fresh pasta and romance (you’re not feeling this?). With a few days off I took advantage of my wife’s new gift to me, an early Christmas present – a new La Marcato Pasta machine! Having a top of the line pasta machine was just what the doctor ordered and I put it to good use, so I’m sharing my homemade fresh tagliatelle lobster pasta recipe that will make you want to shake and bake!

We start our tagliatelle recipe by making the dough and creating a flour like volcano with eggs nestled in the middle. I would strongly suggest using Antico Molino Caputo tipo 00 and Moretti Semolina flour which are much finer then all-purpose and will taste sooooo much better but if you must, use what you got (although, nothing says romance like Italian flour, right??? Still not feeling this, are you?). Slowly beat the eggs while piercing the flour and continue until the pasta dough starts to firm. Once it begins to solidify, kneed the dough for at least 10 minutes and then put under a bowl to rest for another 30. For the lobster sauce, add San Marzano crushed tomatoes to a pan with sauteed garlic and shallots simmering in olive oil. Then finely chop fresh Italian parsley, add to the sauce and after 20 minutes at low heat, add chopped fresh lobster (you can have it steamed at the market unless you prefer to cook it yourself – and you’re just that cool and into excellence).

Once the fresh pasta has settled for 30 minutes, cut the dough into a few small pieces and feed them into the pasta machine. Start at the highest level working your way down, folding over and thinning out the tagliatelle. Once it’s nice and thin, feed the fresh dough again at the lowest level setting in your pasta machine to produce the tagliatelle shape (you can do spaghetti or fettuccine or whatever you like – it’s a free country and in the Geneva convention!) Place the pasta on a cutting board or long surface lightly flowered and after 15 minutes, place in a freezer bag and let sit overnight for best results.

We are almost ready to sit down for our fresh tagliatelle lobster pasta, and if you want to set the mood by saying grace like the Ricky Bobby family, try this rendition as some might say it’s romantic? Or twisted… I guess it’s really up to interpretation. Ok, back to the recipe… boil water and add the fresh tagliatelle pasta but remember it will cook pretty quickly after just a few minutes since the pasta is fresh and we want to keep the tagliatelle al dente. Drain the pasta when ready and add it to the lobster sauce and now your are ready for La Fiesta! I enjoy a hardy red with my red sauce pastas so if you have a Barbaresco, Brunello, or Barolo, really any of the B’s will do – I don’t imagine anyone is going to decline. So there you have it, Paggi Pazzo’s fresh tagliatelle lobster pasta recipe, romance your holidays and try not to flip off anyone in the mall parking garage – Buon Appetito!

To make pasta dough, place flour on cutting board, counter, or large bowl and shape into a volcano with an opening in the middle. Crack eggs into middle of flour (removing shells) and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt

Slowly beat and stir eggs in a circular motion while slowly including flour into egg mix. After several minutes, egg and flour will come together creating greater consistency and become soft like dough mixture. Once thicker, use hands to press remaining flour into dough and push, flatten, and kneed until ready (add water to mixture if necessary)

Take pasta dough and cover with large bowl for 30 minutes or put in plastic wrap and put in fridge

To prepare sauce, chop garlic and shallot into pan with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper, let simmer for 3-5 minutes and then add finely chopped fresh parsley and saute for another 10-15 minutes

To make tagliatelle, take pasta dough and flour on both sides, then use hands to flatten. Add dough to machine at highest level continue to put pasta back in machine until pasta thins, flouring lightly on both sides

Add dough through pasta tagliatelle setting and then place on cutting board to rest, lightly covered with flour (for best results, freeze pasta over night). For immediate cooking, boil water and then add pasta for 2-3 minutes

Add pasta to sauce, stir then ready to serve

Tagliatelle Pasta and Lobster Recipe5 out of 5 stars based on 2 ratings.